


All that is right in the world

by CaelumBlack



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Forks Washington, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-07-20 15:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16140557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaelumBlack/pseuds/CaelumBlack
Summary: Bella Swan moves to Forks to live with her father and to finish high school. A normal kid during the day, vampire huntress at night. And who happen to live in the same town as she? The Cullen family. Vampires. Which she is supposed to hunt down. But taking down an entire coven of seven takes careful planning and possibly even becoming friendly with the enemy. Like a Trojan Horse. Things become complicated when her life collides with Rosalie Hale and the rest of the family. These are no ordinary vampires. Or are they?





	1. THE HUNT

**Author's Note:**

> Had this idea. Not entirely sure where I want to go with it, but it makes me giddy just writing it. Leave a comment with your opinion if you can spare the time.

Something tingled underneath my skin when I looked at him. 

It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling per se. It wasn’t entirely pleasant either. I’d experienced it often enough to have gotten used to it by now. A gentle grazing of a sharp nail rather than a thousand pinpricks all at once. Now, that was what I’d liked to call an improvement. Though I had to admit that once upon a time, it had made me scratch at my neck for hours after coming across the supernatural. 

True, that had been a long time ago, a period in my life I’d rather forget about, especially the first time I ever ran into a vampire. I forced the thought to the back of my mind, hiding that specific memory behind countless others. If I never thought about that night again, it would be too soon. 

I focused on him again. Tall, lean, honey-blond hair, inhumanly beautiful. Of course he was. He sat at the far side of the bar, a beer in his hand, which he lifted to his lips every thirty seconds. Surely, he wasn’t old enough to be having a beer? Then again, neither was I, and I also sported a bottle between my hands. 

The girl behind the bar was ogling the boy every now and then. I couldn’t really blame her, he truly was handsome. Even if he had a pained expression on his face most of the time. Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thirty. He took another sip of his beer. I couldn’t help it when the right-corner of my mouth twitched upward slightly. He was at least clever, keeping up appearances, making sure he moved around every now and then, so no one would think him a statue, or a vampire, because he was most definitely a vampire. Not that anyone in this bar but me would know how to spot one. 

My head cocked to the side a little as I regarded the boy curiously. Something was off about him. Not just his entire existence as a supernatural creature, no, there was something else about him. I finished my beer and put it down on the ground beside me. Then I put my elbows on the railing in front of me, leaning down while folding my hands together as if in prayer. It provided me with a better view of the bar without looking too obvious. 

I chewed my lower lip in thought. The vampire seemed harmless enough. So far, he hadn’t made a move to talk to any of the bar’s patrons. Those who’d been brave enough to go up to him, he’d turned down with a polite smile. 

Was he waiting for someone? For the right meal to come along perhaps? A friend to share the hunt with? My eyes turned to slits at the thought. Not on my watch. 

A group of six girls giggled loudly to my left and even over the music that was played loudly, I picked up several exclamations about how handsome the guy at the bar-the vampire-was. One of the braver girls of the group declared that she was going to talk to him because surely, he couldn’t dismiss her. 

My eyebrows raised into a frown. Sure, she was attractive, for a human. Slim waist, long chestnut curls, dressed fashionably. She might have been considered pretty by human standards, but he was most definitely out of her league and she didn’t have a chance with him. Well, not in the way she wanted anyway. She would be turned away, just like those who’d come before her. Those bold enough to go up and talk to him. 

My lips twitched again, and I found myself being amused when I thought about the vampire turning down the girl. That made me shake my head. What was wrong with me? Rooting for an immortal blood-sucking leech. 

I glanced down once more, watched the vampire’s impassive face. He’d likely heard the girl’s announcement about heading down to talk to him and anticipated her arrival. Even if the music was loud, they had not been quiet about it and anyone with enhanced hearing would have heard. He sighed, almost imperceivably and for a moment, I almost felt sorry for the guy. It couldn’t be easy, going through life being so incredibly attractive and all, having girls throw themselves at you everywhere you go. Yes, it most definitely had to be a horrible feat, living like that. 

Just as the girl made it down the stairs, the door to the bar opened and tiny, black-haired girl with small features and a grace only an immortal could achieve, skipped inside, beelining straightly toward the vampire boy at the bar. 

My smile faltered. Two of them. One of them was easy enough, but two. I watched as the girl reached the vampire, whose face had lit up the second she’d entered the bar. The short vampire stopped next to the bar stool her fellow immortal sat upon and for a moment, they just stared at each other. Then, the girl-who reminded me of a pixie rather than a vampire-pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed the honey-blond on the lips. When their kiss ended, they smiled, their pale faces momentarily filled with life. No, with love.

My heart halted before galloping away from me. An immortal couple. Mates perhaps? It had been a while since my last duo-kill. Something buzzed in my blood, an excitement I got to experience all too rarely these days. 

Without noticing, my hands had wrapped themselves around the railing that kept people from tumbling down onto the dancefloor below. My knuckles were stark-white, and I could feel the cold metal against the palms of my hands begin to bend. I let go of the railing with a start and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. If anyone had, they didn’t show it. 

The vampires below were still wordlessly staring at each other. To my left, the girl had returned to her group of friends, who were now gently patting her back and encouraging her to talk to some other hot guy in the bar. I lost interest in their conversation upon hearing them refer to said guy as fuckboy. What was wrong with people these days? To my right, a couple was making out like teenagers, so I looked back at the bar. 

Fuck. FUCK. I scanned the entire bar. They were gone. Fuck. The group of girls all frowned at me when I rushed past them and bounded down the stairs, a waterfall of creative curses tumbling past my lips. 

“Language,” the almost-turned-down-girl yelled after me, her tone of voice making the hairs on my arms stand on end. I threw a particularly vulgar gesture over my shoulder at the girl before opening the door and rushing outside, looking left and right, scanning the well-lit street. There was not a human anywhere in sight, not a vampire either, for that matter. 

“Fuck!” I exclaimed aloud then, likely loud enough for the vampires to hear if they were still nearby. My hands clenched into fists. They’d likely used vampire-speed once they’d seen the empty street. Surely, they hadn’t noticed me? Was that why they’d left so sudden? I took a few steps forward, scanning the shadows. There was no one there. Not a single vampire lurking in the dark. Just my luck. I didn’t let just one, but two immortals slip through my fingers. 

I shook my head, more than a little annoyed with myself and decided to head home rather than ease the need to hunt. They might be hunting humans, but what they didn’t know, was that I was hunting them. Not just the two in the bar, all of them, and for some reason, Washington State was riddled with vampires. It was like the city itself was a social hub for immortal creatures. 

As I headed for my car, I got my phone out of my pocket. Eleven-fourteen and nothing to show for it. No dead vampire. But, at least there was a text message from Charlie, my dad, asking me when I’d be home and not to be out until too late because… I stopped reading. My heart sunk as I realized what awaited me tomorrow. I groaned as I climbed into my new car, the Jeep my mother had left me. A farewell present, albeit a rather big one.

We’d spent the past two weeks road tripping across the west coast together. Quality mother-daughter time, she’d called it. I knew she’d done it mostly because she’d felt guilty about her and Phil’s prospective life on the road, though to be fair, it had been my idea. Still, for the past months, I’d lied through my teeth, telling her it was going to be all right, that I was actually looking forward to living with my dad. I suppose I must have said it often and convincingly enough that ultimately, she believed me. 

That did not mean her mom hadn’t felt guilty about it. Hence the road trip. And the car. And the new clothes. 

I shot Charlie, crap, my dad, a message, telling him I’d be home within the hour and put my seatbelt on before turning the key in the ignition. The Jeep roared to life. As I drove back through the dimly lit streets of Port Angeles and eventually along the not-at-all lit Olympics Highway, I let my thoughts roam toward my mom. 

She’d given me seventeen years of happiness and yes, I’d definitely had to take care of her most of the time, but surely it had been about time she found some real happiness of her own. With the man she loved, rather than with the daughter she loved. I supposed living with my dad would have its upsides. One of them being relatively close to Port Angeles and more important Seattle. 

There hadn’t been too many vampires willing to live their lives out in a desert-city such as Phoenix. I’d still had enough immortals to hunt, patrolling the streets at night-hoping my mother wouldn’t notice my absence-but to say my hunting career had been incredibly busy had been an understatement. 

At least in Washington State it was cloudy and rainy enough for me to keep me occupied whenever I felt like a proper hunt. Or so I hoped. So far, I’d spotted three vampires, and I’d spent only four hours in Seattle because my mom had flown out from Sea-Tac to meet Phil, who’d had a game in Dallas this weekend, and three hours in Port Angeles, so I guessed the odds were most definitely in my favor. 

Though the sky had been clear by the time I’d left Port Angeles, the closer I got to Forks, the more clouds appeared in the sky, blocking the moon and many of her winking companions from my sight. A light drizzle poured down when I pulled up the driveway to my father’s house, my new home. 

Home. The word tasted bitter in my mouth. 

I killed the engine and for a long moment, I sat in the driveway, my eyes closed as I listened to the drizzle turning into a downpour. The house was dark. Charlie was likely already asleep. Time for me to join the world of dreams as well if I wanted to have at least some energy to get through tomorrow. 

I didn’t bother with pulling on my jacket as I climbed out of my car and rushed up the driveway, into the house. Locking the front door behind me and quietly making my way up the stairs without waking Charlie. My first stop was the bathroom and I quickly brushed my teeth, washed my face and relieved my bladder before heading into my bedroom. 

It was still painstakingly bare of any personal belongings. I watched the still-packed boxes I’d shipped before going on my road trip with my mom. There was still enough time for me to unpack everything. I hadn’t planned on making any friends, so I’d figured I might as well use my evenings this week to make my room feel a little more like home. 

Charlie had repainted the room, a fresh white clinging to the wall instead of the pale-blue that reminded me of spending my summers here when I’d been a kid. Four years since I’d been here last. I’d still been care-free then, unaware of the dangers lurking in the shadows. 

Immortals. Supernatural creatures. Hunting them. 

The concept had been one out of fairytales and fantasy movies. Yet here I was, at the age of seventeen. A vampire hunter. One night, a long time ago, I’d laughed upon hearing those words. Even if I’d still been shaking from the events of said night. Even if everything that had happened over the week prior to that night, proved to me that I was anything but ordinary. 

I hadn’t wanted to believe it. Bella Swan. Vampire hunter. The stuff of unimaginable stories that kept you up at night. I scoffed at myself for remembering that encounter. Now was not the time. There were other, more important things to consider. 

Starting senior year at a new school being one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update twice a week as long as I'm inspired!


	2. THE NEW KID

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella arrives at Forks High School for her first day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update twice a week. Again, leave a message if you can spare the time. Hope you enjoy.

My first thought of the following day was that I already wanted the day to be over with. 

My alarm woke me up early enough for me to shower, pick an appropriate first-day outfit, get dressed and share a breakfast of coffee and pancakes with Charlie. 

We ate in-mostly-comfortable silence, both reading the paper after deciding who was allowed to read what section. Sports for Charlie and actually important news for me. While we read, we both shoveled pancakes into our mouths and washed it away with large amounts of coffee. It was the first time in a long time that I was reminded that the man opposite me, was indeed my father. 

After we both finished our breakfast, we quickly worked on clearing the dishes, washing and drying them together, in an unlikely unison. “You know, Bells,” he said then, hesitantly, making me look up at him, “I’m glad you’ve decided to come live here.” 

I watched a sheepish grin bloom across his features. He wasn’t used to showing his emotions, that much was clear, then again, I wasn’t either. I nudged his side with my elbow and flashed him a smile that I knew would not reach my eyes. “So am I dad.” 

And that was that. 

We parted ways after we both headed outside, both to our respective vehicles. Once we left the driveway, he turned left, while I turned right, and I found myself focusing on my breathing a lot during the short ride to the Forks High School. Coming face to face with vampires was one thing, but encountering hormonal teenagers was a whole other level of daunting. Especially when you were the new kid in town, and also the Chief’s daughter. Now, that didn’t help at all. 

Not that I really cared about what people might think of me. I hadn’t come here to make friends. All I wanted, was to finish my education so I could travel to wherever the whisper of vampires led me. Something stung in the pit of my stomach, which I ignored pointedly, instead focusing on the road ahead while humming along with the somewhat familiar song that played on the radio. 

When I arrived at the high school I noticed the throngs of people who were already there, sitting on the hoods of cars and casually chatting amongst each other until they noticed the unfamiliar car in their midst. One of the downsides to small towns I supposed. Even a car could stick out like a sore thumb. I parked my car at the far side of the parking lot and took a moment to collect myself before climbing out of the Jeep. 

I felt the eyes on me more than that I noticed them, as I carefully kept my eyes glued to the asphalt below my feet. So many eyes were trained on me while I made my way into the school, that I felt like a heaviness had begun to push down on my shoulders, making it harder to walk without slouching. I forced myself to keep my back straight, my shoulders squared. I would have held my head high, but I did not feel like meeting any of the curious stares around me. Besides, it was raining again, so I kept my head hidden in the hood I’d pulled over my head the second I’d stepped onto the parking lot. 

Once inside, I found the front office easy enough. It was rather warm inside, a pleasant counterpart to the cold outside. The office itself was brightly lit and in the back of my head I heard the familiar buzz of fluorescent lights. To my right a small, uninviting waiting area was located and in front of me stood a large desk, on its countertop my eyes found many wire baskets filled with paper, paper and more paper. The sole decoration in the entire office was countless pots filled with greenery. For some reason, it made me wonder who would be watering all those plants. 

Behind the counter, a large woman sat bent over a stack of papers. Some locks of her red hair hung limply in front of her eyes and she hadn’t seemed to notice my entrance. I gently cleared my throat as not to startle the woman, who looked up at me, momentarily lost in thought. I watched the thought diminish in her eyes. A cautious smile appearing on her face as she pushed her glasses further up her nose with her forefinger. 

“How can I help you?” she asked, her voice chirpy, but not entirely unpleasant. 

I forced a tightlipped smile onto my face as I took a step toward the hardwood desk. “My name is Isabella Swan, I’m new, I was told you’d be expecting me.” 

Her green eyes brightened in realization and she nodded furiously for a moment. “Indeed, indeed. Please, sit down,” she smiled, gesturing at the chair opposite her. I obliged, shifting uncomfortably in my seat while the woman rummaged through the paper stacks on the desk. Eventually, she found what she was looking for, an excited ‘ha’ escaping her. 

“Here we go. Here we go,” she said as she handed me a folder which was filled with information about the school, a map of the school and most important, my schedule. I looked it over and nodded to myself. Not too bad. 

The redhead took a minute to explain where I had to go for my first class. History. I wondered whether I’d be ahead or behind, not just in history, in each of my classes. The only class you couldn’t really be behind in would be PE. Without realizing it, I shrugged to myself. Nothing I could do about it until I found out. I thanked the woman who waved a hand before again focusing on the stack of papers in front of her. 

I followed the instructions the front office woman had given me and noticed the hallways were already filling up with students, along with their curious stares. A slight annoyance slithered through me as I carefully avoided their eyes, instead focusing on the hallway around me that looked like any other high school. Hormonal teenagers who seemed unable to keep their undulated excitement contained for whatever reason, sure as heck couldn’t be the classes. Lockers lined the walls. Classrooms were located left and right. Teacher stood in the doorframes greeting students in voices more chipper than should be allowed at this time of day. 

As I found my way through the hallways, I kept my head down, only to look up once I found my classroom. The rest of the students who were filing into a classroom that was on the small side, hung their coats on a long row of hooks beside the door. I followed their example before heading up to the teacher and handing him over a slip of paper explaining why I was there in the first place. In exchange, he gave me a history book. 

He introduced himself as Mr. Wells and told me to find an empty seat. Thankfully he didn’t introduce me to the rest of the class and I sat through the hour listening and making notes, still carefully avoiding the inquisitive eyes trained on me. The class was not even close to interesting and the minutes dragged on, but at least I found out I wasn’t behind, not really anyway. They’d discussed some topics my previous school hadn’t covered, but nothing I couldn’t catch up on in my spare time.

The bell rung loudly and shrilly, making me jump in my seat. I collected my things and pushed myself up from my seat. When I pulled on my jacket Mr. Wells spoke. “Goodbye, miss Swan, see you tomorrow.” 

I saluted him, using the fore and middle finger of my right hand and stepped into the hallway where a lanky boy with black hair pushed himself off the wall before he spun toward me, an ear-splitting smile on his face. “Hi, you must be Isabella Swan, I’m Eric,” he said, his voice high-spirited. 

“Bella,” I corrected and sped up my steps, desperate to get out of this conversation. Despite his long legs, he seemed to have difficulty keeping up with me. 

“What’s up next for you?” he asked. 

I looked at the folded piece of paper that I’d already gotten out of my pocket. “Building four, Trigonometry,” I replied curtly without looking at the boy, but rather looking for the nearest exit, or well, perhaps the nearest escape. 

“Ah, shoot, I’m in building six, got Spanish. Follow the hallway, go through the doors at the end and you’ll find your destination on your left. Mrs. Greene is great by the way, you’re lucky you got her, the alternative is rather, uhm… dreadful I’m afraid,” Eric said, his gaze shifting left and right. 

He pointed toward a set of doors then. “That’s your route. See you at lunch,” he chirped before turning on his heel and heading in the opposite direction. 

I sighed, relieved at being left alone and headed toward my Trig class. Afterwards I had AP Physics and then Economics. In the afternoon, after the sole time of day I truly dreaded, I’d have to suffer through Biology, English and ultimately PE, which was in fact the only class I was actually looking forward to. 

Before my miraculously acquired vampire-killing skills, I’d been rather uncoordinated, but it had quite literally changed overnight. It had caused several changes within me, one of them being a desperately release in the energy department on a regular basis. PE class was about thirty-five percent of that release. The rest of my energy had been spent on martial arts, boxing, running, weight training, or, you know, fighting vampires. 

After Economics it was time for time any new student dreads the most, has nightmares about even. Lunchtime. In the cafeteria. Nowhere to escape to. I just really hoped no one would try to talk to me. Which was why I’d taken precautions. I’d brought a book to read. The second I’d left building five, I’d stuffed earphones into my ear, blasting music I usually reserved for my training sessions. 

With an anticipatory sigh, I stepped into the hall that would end up in the cafeteria, which was where most students were headed at this time of day. I followed the throng of people until I found every pair of eyes trained on me. Silence fell over the cafeteria and I stood in the middle, frozen. 

It was in that exact moment, that I realized I would have rather encountered and fought the two vampires from last night than be in this cafeteria filled with hormonal teenagers.


	3. THE CULLENS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella meets the Cullens and shares a class with a vampire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got impatient, so I'm updating a day early. Enjoy. Kudos and comments are always welcome.

The Universe itself, or Fate-if you liked to call it that-had to be playing tricks on me, or my eyes in this matter. I stared, hard, not even trying to be inconspicuous. There they were, actually here. The boy with the honey-colored hair and the girl with the short black hair that for all intents and purposes stood into every possible direction. In the harsh lighting of the cafeteria, I realized her entire appearance reminded me of a pixie. She was, however, definitely not one of those damned creatures. 

I watched as the honey-haired vampires spun the not-pixie around in the middle of the cafeteria. Not a human student in sight who looked at them funny for doing so. Was this kind of behavior normal for them? Odd, because who pirouetted their vampire girlfriend in the middle of a high school cafeteria? Stranger even, because they seemed almost normal. 

How were they suddenly here? At the high school I was now attending. Sure, Port Angeles was close enough to Forks for a nice night out in the city, as I’d experienced the very same night they had. It just was too much of a coincidence. 

They were apparently students here at the school, for no one looked at them funny for being here, not like they were looking at me anyway. The new kid. 

It had to be some kind of sign. 

I blinked when the cafeteria doors opened once more. I couldn’t help my jaw from dropping as my hand moved to scratch the skin at the back of my neck. This was too much. Five of them. Five. How was this school still here? They had to be hunting out of town. Port Angeles, obviously. Seattle as well, most likely. 

Something was off, not just about the honey-haired one, with all of them.

My gaze flicked across their inhuman beauty and got stuck when I noticed the tall golden-haired one. I stopped breathing as I took in her statuesque appearance, from the poise with which she held herself, to the graceful arc of her eyebrows. She was by far the most beautiful vampire I’d ever laid eyes on. No. Beautiful just didn’t cut it. She was ethereal. 

Immaculate.

The word reverberated through my chest. I must have muttered it under my breath, for the group of vampires all turned their head toward me. Curious rather than hostile, but it was unsettling to the very least. Well, except for the striking blond one. She kind of glared. Perhaps she didn’t like to be talked about? I would have looked away from her glare. Until I realized what was so different about them.

Their eyes. It was their eyes. 

In that exact moment, someone cut off my line of sight. I looked up and watched as Eric’s mouth moved with speech. I lifted my hands to remove my headphones and familiar cafeteria sounds rushed to my ears. They were the same in every high school it seemed. Chatter, chuckles, the scraping of chairs against linoleum and the clatter of cutlery. 

Eric smiled sheepishly, and I watched his shoulder move up a ways. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were listening to music, can my friends and I sit with you?” 

My first instinct was to say no when he gestured toward the teenagers standing behind him, all smiling, some lifting a hand to greet me. I truly wanted to say no. But for some reason an entirely different word left my mouth. “Sure.” 

Well crap. I’d just completely forgone the promise I’d made myself to not interact with anyone.

The group sat down with me. Eric taking the seat to my left, a dark-haired girl to my right who introduced herself as Angela. She seemed all right, the only one in the group I suspected I would feel even remotely friendly towards. I was usually pretty good at assessing people’s personalities and gauging whether or not we could be friends in the future. The rest of the group, well, with the exception of Eric perhaps-but only because I liked dorks-I would not hang with. Period. 

I’d forgotten the names of the rest as soon as they’d introduced themselves and found myself smiling and nodding politely when they each took turns to tell me about themselves, their useless little lives, the school, the students. 

The students. Yes. That was something I did want to hear about. Five of them in particular. I had so many questions, but I wasn’t about to ask any of them. So far, no one had brought up the vampire family in their midst, so I took the opportunity to pointedly catch a glimpse of them. The chatty one noticed and snorted a little. I made sure to look back at her like a criminal caught in the act. 

“That’s the Cullen family. Edward’s the bronze-haired one, Emmett sits next to him, then Jasper, Alice, they’re a couple, which is weird and finally, there’s Rosalie. They were all adopted by Dr. Cullen and his wife,” she said, her tone skeptical.

The group of vampires looked over to our table, again enquiring rather than annoyed. The only one who didn’t look was the blonde, Rosalie. She stared intensely at something invisible in front of her. Her hands were curled around the countertop. I noticed how the pixie, Alice, whispered something to her and her long, white fingers relaxed, slightly anyway. 

The girl who’d spoken up looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to comment on their attractiveness no doubt. “They seem… different?” it sounded more like a question than an actual statement. 

“Yeah, well, that’s the understatement of the century,” the guy with the blond spikey hair muttered under his breath. 

Angela smiled gently and leaned toward me, as if she wanted to share a secret with me. “I think it’s nice of Dr. and Mrs. Cullen to have adopted them.” 

I hummed in thought more than in reply to the dark-haired girl beside me. A thought came to me then. “Have they always lived here?” I worked to keep my voice as disinterested as possible, knowing they could hear every word I said. 

Jessica snorted and shook her head. “No, they moved here two years ago, apparently they lived in Alaska first, but Dr. Cullen got a job offer at the hospital he couldn’t refuse, so they all moved down here.” 

Two years. They’d lived here for two years. Before moving here, I’d looked up the annual death-rate of the area. It hadn’t been shockingly high, just some hikers and campers who’d gone missing. Nothing out of the ordinary in a town surrounded by stretches of mountains and woods in every possible direction. 

And Alaska? Surely not. Nice cover story though, explained why they were so pale. Where would they have fed without people noticing it? It just didn’t make sense. There were only so many people living in Alaska after all. 

I found my gaze being pulled back to the group of immortals, only to find four sets of golden eyes trained on me. All of them, except for the true goddess among them. She sat with her head turned away from me and I couldn’t help but feel like perhaps, it was a conscious decision. Mostly because of the way the others gazed at me with an interest I’d never seen on a face carved to perfection through death. As far as I knew, they weren’t a curious species by nature. In fact, the only true emotions I’d ever seen on vampires were pure boredom, undulated hunger and uncontrolled rage. There wasn’t a whole lot in between. 

“So, did any of you ever date them?” I asked, keeping my voice innocent because I’d looked around and no one here came even close to being attractive enough to even catch the attention of these vampires. 

Angela merely smiled shyly, the other two girls huffed out a laugh, and Mike shifted uncomfortably in his chair. 

“They don’t date, so don’t waste your time. Apparently, none of us are good-looking enough for any of them, besides, they kind of keep to themselves, only talk to each other, they never really talk to any of us,” the blonde said. How was I always so bad at remembering names? 

I couldn’t be sure, but when I took another peek at the blonde, I could have sworn her cheeks were lifted upwardly, as if she’d been smiling at those words. 

Not long after that, the group of vampires got up from their seats and left the cafeteria in unison. They hadn’t eaten. Which made me wonder. How the other students hadn’t noticed? I could only assume they’d never fill up a tray with food during lunch hour. 

My first class after lunchbreak was my least favorite, biology. Both Mike and Jessica walked with me because we shared the class. While Mike was entirely too friendly, I caught Jessica throwing me several irritated side-glances. Once we arrived at the classroom my heart sank. Of course, I had to share a class with a vampire. The universe was taunting me all right.

Edward Cullen sat alone, which didn’t really surprise me in the slightest. The familiar itch that accompanied a supernatural being nearby roared its ugly head and I had to stop myself from scratching my skin raw. 

Once I’d exchanged another slip of paper for a biology book, Mr. Banner gestured for me to sit in the only spot available, next to Edward. Of course. For some reason I just knew how I would be spending the next hour and it wasn’t making notes. 

Edward looked at me-ever the curious vampire it seemed-while I sat down next to him as far away from him as the desk allowed me. Around me, voices, moving chairs and books being dropped onto desks mingled in a chorus of overwhelming sound. I wondered how any of these odd vampires could stand it. Their hearing was even more sensitive than mine, but still they had been going to high school for the past two years. And apparently, they’d not eaten any of the student body. Or, I hadn’t found any evidence of it yet. 

What I did know was that I had found a way to spend my evenings, besides unpacking my belongings and trying to make my room a little more like home that was. Research into the Cullen family, and lots of it. 

Mr. Banner started the class and the day’s topic was cellular anatomy. Another class I wasn’t behind on. I took my notes and tried to avoid the curious golden eyes beside me. They were trained on me from the moment I’d entered the classroom. It wasn’t so much that I saw him staring at me, but I almost felt as if those golden orbs were burning holes into me. Well, and I noticed that whenever he actually looked at me, the itch beneath my skin got worse. 

I’d never felt such agony in my entire life as during that class. A constant itch truly was worse than pain. 

At a certain point, I made the mistake to glance over at him, despite my better judgment, and when my eyes met his, he cocked his head to the side and for the slightest moment the skin around his eyes tightened, a dark look flashed in his inhuman eyes. Gold, they truly were made of molten gold. And then the darkness was gone. If I had blinked at that exact moment, I would’ve missed it entirely. 

A careful smile curled his lips. “Hello,” he said, his voice soft, gentle. 

I couldn’t help myself from flinching the slightest bit. “Hi,” I replied hesitantly.

“My name is Edward Cullen. You must be Bella Swan,” he spoke politely, properly. Just like any super old dude would. I wondered just how many decades he had on me. 

I flashed a tightlipped smile. “You’re not wrong. Pleasure to meet you.” I turned away from the golden eyes. 

“How… how are you liking Forks?” he asked, not entirely unpleasantly. 

My breath escaped involuntarily into a bit of a hiss. “It’s mostly cold, and wet.” 

“You’re from Phoenix, right?” 

I nodded and turned back, looking the vampire straight in the eyes. “You’ve got very unusual eyes.” 

He blinked. Once. Twice. “Yes, I’ve heard that before.” He shrugged then and looked at his hands. I watched the paleness of his skin, the strength that was hidden beneath that skin. I’d never been this close to a vampire before without them attacking me. It was… refreshing. 

Mr. Banner came over then, ushering us to work on our assignment. He did smile the slightest bit and threw Edward a wink. I reckoned Mr. Banner approved of Edward showing an interest in another student for once in his two years here. 

“Why did you move here if you don’t like the climate? It must be unpleasant if you don’t like the cold, the rain,” Edward then said, disregarding Mr. Banner’s words the second he turned his back on us. 

I shrugged. Not really wanting to get into it with a stranger, much less with someone I’d be killing sooner rather than later. What was this irrational curiosity with me anyway? It wasn’t like I was actually interesting, and surely my looks weren’t good enough for someone carved to perfection. 

Edward looked at me, leaning his head into his hand. For a moment he seemed oddly human, especially when his lips curled into a lopsided, apologetic smile. “I apologize for my inquisitiveness. I find it difficult to get a proper read on you, which is something I’m normally very good at, it frustrates me greatly.” 

It hit me then. His interest in me, was perhaps a good thing. I wanted to end them, all five of them. It was my job. Five, plus two, I then realized. This Dr. Cullen and his wife most likely were vampires as well, otherwise, how could they still be alive. Surely, five teenage vampires could not be kept under control by two human parents. Possibly, the only way to find out more about them, to get into their midst and take them all out from the inside, was to be on friendly terms with them. Or at least one of them. 

My mind went wild then, thinking up ways to take out an entire family of vampires. Perhaps a bomb, but it would have to be big enough to take out a vampire. Several other ways came to mind and I pictured them, seeing the ways I’d rip their limbs and heads from their bodies, one after the other. Before any of those opportunities could come to pass, I’d have to get access to their house.

It appeared, that my best shot upon achieving that, would be the inquisitive Edward Cullen.


	4. AP LIT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella shares a class with Rosalie and finds that the vampires is an expert at glaring

The only thing worse than spending one class with a vampire, was having to spend two classes with a vampire, and that on the same day. I think I could have been okay with sharing AP Literature with Edward again, he’d seemed okay, for a vamp anyway. Yet my next class was shared with Edward’s least friendly-looking sibling. 

The goddess. The ice-queen. The one who glare twenty-four seven. 

Somehow, she truly made immortality look like hell. 

From the second I arrived in the classroom, it became awfully clear that Rosalie was not as inclined to be friendly towards me as Edward had been. In fact, the second I sat down next to her, because, big surprise, the only available seat was next to her, she’d turned away her face, looking out the window, using her hair as some sort of shield between us. Like that would have done anything to save her, should I have felt like ending her right there and then.

If her ultimate goal in her vampiric existence was to scare people away, she was pretty damn good at it. I could only imagine the poor souls who’d had to do groupwork with her in the past. Also, I desperately hoped that my teacher, Mrs. Bell wasn’t a big fan of putting students up for project work. 

Now, Mrs. Bell was Rosalie’s opposite, she came across as one of those friendly teachers. The kind who displays genuine interest in her students, which was probably why she addressed me at the start of class. 

“Bella, every student here has shared their favorite quote, lyric, or part of their favorite poem at the start of the year, would you perhaps care to share yours as well?” she asked, her words not forceful at all, but had a rather hopeful edge to it. I believed that if I’d said no, she would have smiled and let it go immediately. 

For some reason I wondered what Rosalie had shared with the class, she’d said every student after all. Surely the hostile vampire hadn’t received a get-out-of-jail-free card, just because she’d perfected the art of glaring. 

“Uhm, sure, yeah, give me a moment to think of one?” 

Mrs. Bell nodded and gestured for me to start. “Whenever you’re ready Bella.” 

I nodded then, cleared my throat and began. “We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”

Silence had fallen over the class the moment I began to speak. The quote had been dark. A total mood wrecker. Great! Now I wasn’t just the new kid anymore. I would be known as the weird new kid who was obsessed with mass destruction. Well, perhaps it would make them give me a wide berth, well, two birds with one stone I guess. Would definitely make my life here, and my inevitable departure, easier. 

I felt countless pairs of eyes trained on me, even the golden ones beside me. 

I cleared my throat. “Robert Oppenheimer, upon seeing the first detonation of a nuclear weapon,” I elaborated, for those who didn’t know. 

“Why this quote?” Mrs. Bell asked, her voice kept carefully friendly, her smile hesitant. She began to fidget with her hands, pulling at some invisible thread on her indigo skirt.

I took a steadying breath and my fingers curled to fists before I forced to relax them. I looked at Mrs. Bell, ignoring the many sets of raised eyebrows thrown my way. “Because I cannot fathom what it would be like to see something like that. At the time, it was something they’d never perceived before, such destruction, so much power. We live in a time where technology evolves so fast, we are rarely surprised anymore, which in that case is probably a good thing, don’t get me wrong.” 

Everyone sat in stunned silence and if someone had dropped a pencil in that moment, it would have sounded like a bomb had gone off. Pun intended, obviously. 

I shrugged then, feigning dismissal. “I don’t know, it just sounds like a life-altering experience and I don’t think I’ll ever get to live through such a feat, see such a sight, so it intrigues me I guess.” 

More silence. I had not succeeded into making this less weird. I did really feel like I could relate to the quote however, it had not, in any way, been a screen for attention or anything. 

In my eighteen years on this planet, I’d seen so much already, lived through many things I’d never thought I would. I couldn’t fathom ever living through something as unexpected and life-altering as finding out vampires were real, along with shapeshifters, werewolves and who knows what else. The inexplicable that most people would disregard the second they encountered it, I lived in that place. Hell, I was the embodiment what could not be explained. 

I was quite literally stuck in the in-between, my left foot was firmly planted in the human world and my right in the supernatural world. Without wanting to, or choosing to, I’d become the balance between those two worlds. Worlds that sometimes converged yet were mostly divided. One world basked in sunlight, the other was carefully hidden in the shadows. 

Mrs. Bell just blinked a couple of times, then nodded and flashed a tight smile. “Let’s hope we never have to experience something like that.” 

“Perhaps we’ll live through an alien invasion,” some guy grinned, “now that would be something.” 

The class laughed, and I threw him a thankful smile. He’d introduced himself yesterday. Taylor? Tyler?

During the remainder of the class I was either pointedly ignored by the vampire next to me, or viciously glared at. I couldn’t really figure out why her attitude toward me was so intensely negative. Or, probably more important, why it bothered me to the point of frustration. First off, I hadn’t done anything to her offend her as far as I knew. So why would my existence offend her so? Secondly, she was nothing to me and she was my arch-nemesis and the sole path we’d venture onto would lead to her untimely true death. So, truly, one nasty and rude vampire should not have bothered me so. 

But it had. And I couldn’t get her behavior out of my head. 

PE was thankfully supernatural free, and it went by rather fast. We spent a double hour playing volleyball. Not my favorite sports’ activity, but it was all right. Before I realized it, my first day was over and I was headed toward my car with a figurative skip in my step. 

When I got to the parking lot, I noticed that three members of the most attractive vampire family ever, had gathered at the two most expensive cars in the parking lot. They were undoubtedly waiting for their remaining two siblings to arrive. Edward again looked at me curiously, staring intently, his eyes roaming freely across my face as if he was searching for something. The pixie vampire, Alice, smiled at me and Rosalie, who noticed Alice’s smile, Rosalie just glared at me before angrily pulling the door to the driver’s seat open and sitting down in the red Mercedes. 

What was her problem with me? She couldn’t know that I was a hunter. If she had somehow found out or guessed, I either would have been dead already, or she would have been, and I didn’t think she would have kept something like that from her siblings. Their behavior was a stark contrast to hers, almost in a comical way, as if they were taunting her. 

I flashed a smile at the two remaining siblings and strutted over to the far side of the parking lot where I’d parked that morning. For some reason, it felt like a month had passed instead of eight hours. Since when had high school become such a time-warp? 

Without paying the Cullen siblings any more attention, I left the school and headed home where I felt desperately like going on a run. PE had only allowed for me to deplete a small amount of my energy level. I’d have to ask Charlie whether I could hang a punching bag in the garage. 

When Charlie came home around seven, I’d already completed a ten-mile run, I’d showered and started on preparing dinner. 

“Hey Bells,” he said as he entered the kitchen. 

I turned my head and offered a smile. “Hi dad, how was your day? I’m making enchiladas, hope that’s okay?”

“Anything’s good right now,” he said as he got a beer from the fridge and leaned against it, watching me stir the contents of the pans for a while. 

“So, how was your first day?”

I kept my eyes trained on the pans in front of me, making sure our food was not burning. “You know, just like any other day in high school,” I replied. I didn’t really feel like getting into it all. We weren’t quite there yet.

“Oh, okay,” he said and hummed in thought, nodding. “Did you make any friends?”

“It takes a longer time than eight hours to make friends. They were all very friendly though,” I paused, “they all knew I was coming, have you told the entire town?” I added in a teasing voice.

Charlie nearly choked on his sip of beer and what ensued was a full three minutes of him coughing and me gently clapping his back. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I finally said, an actual grin on my face.

We had dinner and afterwards, we cleaned up together, I washed, Charlie dried. Then I went upstairs, claiming to have homework already with an exasperated sigh. 

Truth was, I spent the rest of the evening researching the Cullens. I found frustratingly little. No social media pages on any of them. There was an article about Carlisle Cullen however, which I read thrice. When my search led to nothing else, I looked up newspaper articles and online articles about missing hikers and campers in the area. There had been a few, but not more than during other years. Surprisingly, there had been less than the years prior to the Cullen’s arrival. Some articles claimed that people who’d gotten lost had been found or saved by angels in the dead of night. 

It all sounded like nonsense to me. 

Yet I had a feeling, that those supposed angels, had to have been one of those strange, golden-eyed vampires.


	5. FRIENDLY IMMORTAL

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella has Art class with Alice.

The next day was pretty much the same as the day before, though my schedule was different than the prior day. I started with AP Government, AP Statistics, AP Math and Biology before the break, AP Lit, and a double elective class after. My day was pretty much the same as the first because fellow students were entirely too enthusiastic that I was there. They asked countless questions, which I answered shortly. Despite my dismissiveness, their interest in me did not waver. Their attention made me kind of on edge.

Biology with Edward-who was apparently so good at the subject that he’d been allowed to follow the senior year AP class rather than one with his fellow juniors-was fine. He’d been unable to keep his curiosity contained and started out the second I sat down next to him by asking me several questions. I found that I didn’t mind it as much as I should have. Chitchatting with a vampire, there had to be a written rule somewhere that read something along the lines of not fraternizing with the enemy. Whether or not it was permitted, I answered Edward’s questions and asked him several in return. 

The rest of the student body was quite uproarious about it and during lunch, Jessica, Lauren, Eric and especially Mike, had a ton of questions about it for me as well. I acted aloof and disinterested, as if Edward’s interest in me was nothing out of the ordinary, but I could sense that it was, even if Jessica wouldn’t have explicitly told me. 

Between the end of lunch and AP Lit, Mike and Eric offered to walk me to class, which I dismissed, but they still walked with me, Mike bothering me with flirty comments and Eric actually trying to ask me out. It was quite the eventful five minutes. It was the reason why I’d arrived in AP Lit with steam coming from my ears. 

Without sparing the blonde goddess-who was undoubtedly glaring upon my arrival already-a glance, I plopped down in the seat next to her, threw my books onto the desk and stared at the chalkboard with my arms crossed across my chest. 

Mrs. Bell began her class and the minutes dragged by. Thankfully, she left me alone for most of the hour. Everyone did. Perhaps they saw the thunderclouds that surrounded me. At one point during the class, I found myself glancing at Rosalie without realizing it. She’d sat silently all throughout the class and had seemed to be on edge as she kept a careful eye on me all hour, her body angled away from me slightly. I quite literally felt her eyes on me for every second of the lesson, burning holes through my clothes. When my eyes met hers, I noticed that there was something in her eyes beside the usual anger. Was it concern? Wariness? Anticipation? 

When the bell rung, I was the first one out of the class and I made my way over to my elective, Art class, which thankfully, would be my last class of the day and I could not wait to be out of there. My body was buzzing with energy that needed release and I kind of already saw myself soaring through the woods at inhuman speed. The perks of becoming a vampire hunter I suppose, inhuman strength, speed and reflexes in order to fight and best those who were immortal. 

Unfortunately, it came with several downsides as well. The sudden responsibility to rid the world of vampires being one of them, along with the constant awareness of supernatural creatures roaming the world. Life certainly had been easier when I’d lived in the dark. 

Being a hunter came with some interesting side-effects. For one, vampires could not smell me, which was probably why the Cullen family members found me odd. Another one was that my blood was not appealing to them, mostly because they couldn’t smell me, one vampire had bitten me and before I’d taken her head off, she’d told me my blood tasted like ash. Linked to that experience, I’d found out that a vampire bite didn’t affect me either. I could not be turned immortal through a bite. 

Though I had to admit that the vampire had taken a nice, large chunk of flesh from my arm and that, most certainly, had hurt. It had taken a couple of days to heal. Another perk I guess, accelerated healing. 

I walked into Art class to find myself faced with another Cullen family member. Alice. She smiled and bounded up a little when she saw me coming inside. Of all the family members, she acted the most human. Rosalie and her glaring could be considered as human behavior, however, she could sit perfectly still for an entire hour without so much as moving a muscle, so therefore, kind of inhuman. Edward acted more human than Rosalie, but his speech and intensity were just off for a seventeen-year-old boy.

Alice, in contrast, exuded a bubbly enthusiasm that just didn’t go with the vampire species. It was brimming under the surface of her near-impenetrable skin. Her eyes were glimmering with stars when I made my way over to her. I wasn’t even sure why, there were enough seats left. 

“Mind if I sit with you?” I asked, my dark mood having cleared miraculously on my way over. This was another opportunity to get in with the Cullen family, to find out more about them and their lifestyle. 

“It would be my pleasure,” the black-haired vampire quipped and gestured for me to sit next to her. 

This classroom was more spacious than the others I’d seen so far and was fully dedicated to the arts. There were painting easels spread throughout the room. One wall was lined with shelves and they were filled to the brim with paints, brushes, clay, paper and countless other supplies. 

I sat next to Alice, an easel in front of us both. For a moment we sat in silence. Then Alice spoke up, her voice chirpy, yet somehow soothing. “We are currently working on representations of humanity.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Intriguing, can’t wait to find out what we’ll be working on today,” I said, snorting a little.

“So, how are you liking Forks so far?”

I shrugged. “It’s different than Phoenix, that’s for sure.”

Alice smiled. “I can only imagine.”

“You’ve never been?”

Alice shrugged then. “I’m not a big fan of warmer climates.”

Go figure. Couldn’t have guessed that. Probably had something to do with the fact that they freaking sparkled when rays of sunshine hit their skin. Immortal disco balls was what they were. I nearly snorted out loud at the thought and had to work to keep a straight face. 

“Yeah, I heard you lived in Alaska before, anywhere I might have heard of?”

Alice looked down at her feet and shook her head. “It was kind of remote.”

Sure it was. Alaska my ass. “Had to be lonely, not a whole lot of people up on Alaska as far as I know.”

Her head snapped up, a genuine smile etched onto her face. “I’ve got my family, they’re all I need, they alone are entertaining enough to live in Alaska for years.”

She sounded sincere. How odd. I’d neither encountered vampire covens so large nor any who lived in such harmony as the Cullens appeared to be doing. But that was probably a facade. Even human families could not accomplish a harmonious household, let alone a bunch of blood-thirsty vampires. 

I flashed the pixie a lopsided smile. “Sounds nice,” I said and even I could hear the way I’d forced the words from my mouth. 

Alice looked at me, not entirely in pity, but with compassion? I hated it. She opened her mouth to say something, even lifted her hand, undoubtedly to comfort me by squeezing my sweater-clad forearm, but she seemed to think better of it. 

Our teacher strolled in then, looking like a walking art-teacher cliché. She walked inside, located and acknowledged me and my presence and dove straight into the class she had prepared. We were to work together with another student and draw, sketch or paint a piece of art of said student. It didn’t need to be a true image of the person you worked with, it could also be a representation. 

After her explanation, everyone divided into pairs, leaving Alice and me to work together. We both went to gather supplies before moving our easels and chairs, so we could still see each other. 

I decided to use Picasso as my inspiration and kept the painting Guernica in mind as I began to paint a representation of Alice. 

“So, what are your plans for the future?” Alice asked after we’d worked in silence for almost half an hour. 

I shifted in my chair. Kill you and every member of your family. “I don’t know yet, I haven’t decided,” I paused, my brows pulling down into a fake-comical, suspicious frown, “why?”

“Well, you’re a senior, right? I figured you’d have your whole future planned out like the rest of those who want to flee Forks as soon as they can. Have you any colleges in mind?” again, she sounded curious. 

Her golden eyes flicked over my face and my hand moved out of its own accord to itch the back of my neck. The itch was always the worst there. 

I shook my head slightly. “I don’t think I’ll go to college and I definitely don’t have my future planned,” I admitted, immediately feeling stupid when the words left my mouth. I felt my cheeks warm and noticed how Alice took in my blushing face. She inhaled through her nose, almost imperceivably, and a perplexed look appeared on her face. She’d just realized she couldn’t smell me, or rather, that I didn’t have a scent that she could pick up on. 

She blinked once, and the look was gone. Perhaps she’d blamed it on the paint fumes. “Do you think you’ll stay here?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so no, I think I’ll take some time to travel, get a job here and there.”

Alice’s face went rigid for a moment. Her eyes glazed over, and I couldn’t help but watch in fascination. This was no ordinary vampire. 

I’d heard about vampires with powers. Enhanced skills they’d had as humans, amplified while turned to immortality. I’d just never encountered one before as far as I knew. 

It made me wonder what Alice could do and whether her siblings had similar powers. That could prove to be a difficulty and I’d had to find a way to work around those powers, whatever they might be. 

Alice’s face snapped up then and for a moment she seemed disoriented. Her eyes took in the room around her, moving swiftly, before they landed on me. She noticed my stare and she smiled sheepishly, shrugging, but there was concern in her eyes, a shadowy darkness that hadn’t been there before. 

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I just zoned out for a moment.”

I lifted the brush in my hand again and continued painting. It took a moment before Alice did as well. “How do you and your siblings like Forks?” I asked then. 

“Forks feels like home,” Alice replied without taking her eyes off her painting. 

I glanced around the room, seeing that everyone was focused on their drawings and paintings. Some of them were surprisingly good, others, not so much. “So, what does your future look like, where will you go?” 

Alice smiled. “It changes almost every hour of every day.” 

Cryptic. “Well, you still have a while to figure it all out, right?” 

Alice blinked slowly as she gave a curt nod. “I suppose so.” 

Immortality was a long time to figure out what you wanted to do with your life. I could not imagine such a thing, to have eternity in front of you. It made me wonder how old they all were and how long they’d roamed across this planet, how many humans they’d killed. Why were they here, impersonating the image of a perfect little family? Countless other questions followed and for a while I painted absentmindedly while roving through them all, trying to answer them, but to no avail. 

When, all too soon, Mrs. Avery warned us that our class was nearly over, we finally were allowed to take a look at each other’s work. Alice had decided to use Dali as her inspiration and she’s used ‘Dream cause by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before awakening’ as a basis to paint me. Her work was unimaginably good. I’d expected nothing less, she’d had decades, if not centuries to perfect her painting skills after all.

We walked out of art class together and headed outside, to our respective cars. We chitchatted some, nothing exciting. Still, when we reached the parking lot, I was again met with an angry-looking blond goddess who stared daggers at me. It was then that I decided to provoke the situation, perhaps her wrath as well. I couldn’t really help myself, I had a knack for taunting immortal creatures. 

“So, you and Jasper are together, right?” I asked when they smiled at each other sweetly in greeting, even if we were still quite a way off. 

Alice beamed at that. “Yes.”

“How about your other siblings, are they seeing anyone?” I asked, keeping my tone aa innocent as possible. 

Alice looked sideways and her step was a little bouncier than it had been before. “They’re not no, why? Are you offering to take one of them out of my hands?” she asked, sighing dramatically.

I stopped walking then, a proper distance away so that any human wouldn’t have been able to overhear our conversation. I leaned in, as if to share a secret, but I knew that all the Cullen siblings would overhear our chat. “Well, Emmett is very handsome, and he has a great physique, Edward on the other hand, very smart, he seems kind,” I watched as Emmett smirked and puffed his chest, Edward just stared at me as if, again, he was desperately searching for something. 

I nudged Alice with my arm and threw a glance at Rosalie. “But, to be honest, if I had to pick between your siblings, I’d rather date Rosalie,” I said, a wicked grin etched onto my face before I spun on my heels and headed toward my car. Throwing a hand in the air to wave goodbye.

Without looking back, I knew the roaring laughter from behind me came from Emmett. I wasn’t entirely sure why the thought came to me, but if he’d been human, if any of them had been human, I probably would have liked them.


	6. LUNCHEON WITH VAMPIRES

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cullens join Bella during lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with the story guys. Glad for the comments, the kudos and you actually reading my story!

During the next three days, Rosalie wasn’t in school, and I couldn’t help but think that I was the reason for her absence. 

I found out she was supposed to be in my AP psychology class as well as my AP Lit class, which meant I shared six classes with her every week. I’d have to sit next to her throughout both classes, because the only available seat in AP psychology, was, of course, also next to her. 

It was interesting how the human internal warning system worked. Despite their intrigue with the beautiful vampires, they didn’t seem to feel the need to voluntarily approach them and sit with them during any of the classes. 

I’d shared another class with Edward on Thursday and we’d spoken pleasantly once more. Despite his frequent searching looks, he’d actually seemed to warm up to me to the point where on Friday, he chose to sit with me during lunch, rather than his siblings. Somehow, that prompted the other vampires to get up and join me at my table as well. 

It was quite the ordeal and I couldn’t help my thoughts from going to the quote I’d told in AP Lit. The entire student body stopped talking, turned their heads toward our table, which the vampires ignored, before the whispering began. To them, this had to be a sight they’d never thought they’d see. The Cullen siblings, sitting with a mere mortal. If only they knew. 

“Bella, this is Emmett, and Jasper, guys, this is Bella” Alice said in a way to introduce us to each other, and both vampires gave me a nod in acknowledgment. I did the same, knowing they wouldn’t be shaking my hand anytime soon. Not until they wanted to share the fact that their skin was unnaturally cold. 

“How are you liking Forks so far,” Emmett asked, his voice deeper than I’d expected. 

What was with the Cullen family and their fascination with how I liked Forks? I shrugged. “It’s fine so far,” I nodded, more to myself than the vampires who’d decided to join me.

“You’ve made quite the impression upon Edward here,” Jasper said tightly, his bearing composed as always. 

“Here we go,” Edward muttered and looked at his lap. 

“He can’t stop talking about you,” Emmett grinned. 

“Well, neither can Alice,” Edward countered, glaring at his brother, who just smiled at his words. 

I looked at the vampires at the table with me. This was so weird. And kind of screwed up for them. They had a fascination with someone for the first time in forever, if I had to believe the rumors about them, and they ended up fraternizing with their number one enemy, a vampire hunter. Perhaps, unbeknownst to them, they had a death wish, or they were taunting death without their knowledge. 

Good for me though. I supposed. 

“I guess it’s a good thing to be able to say that I’ve made some friends during my first week,” I shrugged, flashing a smile. 

Another thought hit me then, or rather, a theory. 

Perhaps they knew exactly what I was. The thought came to me so fast and unexpectedly that it gave me pause and suddenly, I sat a lot less comfortable. How had I not thought about this before? That was probably the reason why they were so interested in me in the first place. They’d found out all about me and they were trying to lure me into their home, so they could end me before I ended them. 

How in the world had they found out though? Did some of them truly have power that might have given away my identity? Alice definitely had powers, but I hadn’t been able to figure out what they could be. Perhaps I should make a phone call that afternoon to someone who would be able to tell me more about vampires with powers. 

“What are your plans for this weekend?” Alice asked, her voice jovial. 

“I think I’m going to check out Port Angeles, or maybe Seattle, I kind of miss the big city life,” I replied, keeping my voice steady as I looked around the table, “how about you guys?” 

Emmett sat a little straighter. “We’re going hiking with the family, the weather is supposed to be good this weekend.” 

I nodded. “Hiking is nice, where do you usually go?” 

“Olympic National Park usually, we want to climb Mount Everest one, Mt. Olympus is a good start, kind of like a practice run,” Edward said quickly before Emmett had opened his mouth to answer. 

“Sometimes we take time off from school and we go down to Oregon to climb the mountain peaks there,” Emmett added. 

Jasper just nodded, but after that silence fell. 

“So, Bella, tell us something about yourself, we all knew you were coming, but we know nothing about you, except from what Edward and Alice shared with us of course, otherwise, you’re quite the mystery,” Emmett said, putting his head in his hand, intently looking at me with those odd golden eyes. 

Why were their eyes golden? The vampires I’d come across had always had red eyes. Did they all wear contacts? If so, why would they all choose to wear golden ones? It would have made more sense for them to wear different colors such as blue or green, or brown. They were pretending to be a family, but surely, they didn’t think anyone would think them to be an actual family solely because of their pale complexion and their matching golden eyes. It just didn’t make sense. 

“Eighteen years old. Lived in Phoenix my entire life. My parents got divorced when I was pretty young still. I don’t love school. I can cook a proper meal. I exercise every day,” I said matter-of-factly. 

Jasper cocked his head to the side a little. He looked to be curious rather than predatory. “Why did you move here?” 

It was the same question Edward had asked. I stole a glance at Edward, who sat calmly, patiently awaiting my answer it seemed. These were some weird vampires. Or, I reminded myself, this was all part of an elaborate plan to get me to confess that I was a vampire hunter and they were going to kill me. Probably sooner rather than later. 

“My mom got remarried and Phil’s a minor league baseball player, he moves around a lot because of that. My mom misses him when he’s gone, so I figured I’d make myself scarce, give her a chance at happiness. So, I moved here, to live with my dad,” I answered and added, “the Chief.” 

Alice leaned toward me. “That’s really selfless of you Bella.” 

I didn’t meet her gentle gaze and flashed a tight-lipped smile. “Yeah, well.” 

“But now you’re unhappy Bella,” Edward remarked and when I looked at him, genuine concern was etched onto his face. “You shouldn’t be the one who ends up being unhappy.” 

I shrugged, the corner of my mouth twitched momentarily, in sadness rather than happiness. “Neither should my mom.” 

“We should talk about something fun,” Emmett said, his face splitting into a grin, “tell me Bella, what do you do for fun?” 

That made me grin a little. “Fun, well, I don’t know, it’s been a while since I’ve last done something for fun. I guess I like playing games.” 

“Board games?” Edward asked, his eyes brightening. 

My brows pulled into a frown and I shifted in my chair. “Not really, though I guess Clue is all right, no I’m talking about PlayStation games.” 

Then it was Emmett’s turn to shift in his chair, in fact, he bounded up a little. “You do? I have several consoles at home, what games do you play?” 

I listed off a few games, with each game, Emmett’s-and surprisingly Jasper’s as well-smile broadened. Emmett lifted his arm and made a fist with his rather large hand, waiting for me to fist-bump him. “You and I are going to be great friends,” he stated. 

I bumped my first against his, gently, as to seem as human as possible. All the while searching his face for any trace of deceit. There didn’t seem to be any. The biggest family member, in physique and cheerful personality it seemed, came across as sincere. In a way, it was unsettling, because he wasn’t supposed to genuinely want to hang out with me. We were each other’s archenemy. I was going to kill them. I couldn’t become friends with them. No, that wasn’t it. I couldn’t like them. 

When this realization hit me, I kind of panicked. With a rush, I pushed myself away from the table, making not just the Cullen siblings stare at me, but the entire student body who was still lingering in the cafeteria.

“I’m sorry, but I have to… be somewhere, I forgot to hand in an assignment,” I stammered, and I grabbed my bag before opening my mouth to say something else, deciding to close my mouth and spinning on my heel before disappearing into the nearest hallway. 

I spent the rest of the lunch break cursing at myself. What in the world was wrong with me. I had a way inside the family in the form of Emmett or probably even Edward or Alice. I had to get a grip on myself. It was my job to hunt vampires, to take them out and make the world a little safer. These so-called fellow students were vampires, they were the enemy. 

For a moment I contemplated skipping the rest of the day. Then I realized that this was my first week still, so there was no way I’d be skipping school and get away with it. 

After the break, I had AP Government and two hours of PE. The hours dragged by and I found myself lost in thought. For the first time in three days, I was happy that Rosalie wasn’t in class. It gave me time to think of what to do next, how to go about my next hunt. It was going to be tricky, taking on seven vampires. Besides, I was pretty sure that if I took out one, the rest would up and disappear without a trace. Or even if they did leave a trace, or trail, or whatever, I wouldn’t be able to follow them. Not while living with Charlie. He’d never allow for me to disappear for weeks at a time. It was now or never, or at least, this school year, or never. 

After PE, I rushed home, the parking lot still blissfully empty. The minute I got home, I went to my bedroom. I sat down at my desk, opening the left top drawer. In it, sat a black burner phone. For a long moment, I sat in quiet contemplation. Then I nodded to myself, changed into shorts and a T-shirt and slipped the burner into my pocket.


End file.
